Redemption
by ljee
Summary: After serving time, for the blinding of Jenna Marshall, Alison DiLaurentis wants to move on with her life. But she has to do community service at a center for blind people. There, she meets Emily Fields, a blind swimmer. Semi AU with no A.
1. Chapter 1

Redemption Chapter 1

16 year old Alison DiLaurentis awoke in a cell of a youth detention center. Today was the last day of a one year sentence for a prank that went horribly wrong. She along with her friends Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, and Hanna Marin were behind the blinding of a classmate, Jenna Marshall. Ali threw a firecracker in Jenna's garage. An explosion occurred and Jenna was now blind. Alison received a longer sentence than her friends. Her friends only served six months in another youth facility. She was happy to be finally getting out of the facility. She wanted to go back to her life of being a queen bee in Rosewood, Pennsylvania.

Two hours after she awoke, a guard brought her bag of regular clothing. The clothing was sent by her parents. It was just a pair of jeans, sneakers, a blue v-neck shirt, socks, and underwear. She was happy to no longer wear prison clothing. After changing and doing her blonde hair into a ponytail, a guard told her gather up her things and she was taken into a meeting room where her parents and the warden were.

Her parents Kenneth and Jessica hugged her.

The warden, a woman named Elaine Lewis sat behind a desk.

"Well, Alison you are leaving here. You have done well here except for a couple of infractions early on in your sentence. I hope you have learned your lesson and I hope you continue to be getting your life on track. As part of your continued sentence, you will be meeting with a youth offender parole officer and you will be doing community service as well. I wish you luck Miss DiLaurentis." Elaine said.

Ali responded, "Thank you, Mrs. Lewis.

She was only pretending to be nice to the warden. Ali couldn't stand the warden. She and her parents left the detention center. She listened to music on her old iPhone which she told her mother to bring. They finally arrived in Rosewood. She was happy to be back in her old room. She laid down on her bed and loved how comfortable it was compared to the bed in her cell at the detention center.

Ali ate dinner with her family. It was summer time and it would be awhile before she would be back at school. After dinner, she watched a movie before going to bed. She thought of the past year being a detention center. She still didn't think she deserved to have been there. She hated that her friends served less time than her. Spencer was her next door neighbor, but the Hastings family sold their house and moved elsewhere in Rosewood.

She drifted off to sleep. The next morning, when she awoke she felt odd waking up in her home instead of the detention center. She showered and picked out clothes for the day. She was dreading the day mostly because she was going to be meeting with her parole officer.

Her father drove to her the county office. She again hated having to deal with the legal system.

Her parole officer came out to the waiting room. Alison noticed he was man in his mid 30s with dark hair.

He greeted them and said, "Hello Mr. DiLaurentis and Alison. I'm Jeffrey Stafford."

They followed him into his small office and took seats on blue hard plastic chairs.

Jeffrey said, "I have reviewed all of your records and spoke with the warden at the detention center. As part of your ongoing rehabilitation Alison, I think it would be best if you made some kind of restitution to the visually impaired community. Jenna Marshall was blinded because of your actions. You have expressed your remorse about that. But I'm assigning you to complete 100 hours of community service at the Philadelphia Center for The Blind. Now that place is a non-profit community organization that serves the needs of blind adults and blind children. Since it is summer time, you could probably complete the hours and Philadelphia is only 30 minutes away from Rosewood. I have spoken with the directors at the center and they are going to be monitoring you and reporting back to me."

Alison was immediately annoyed at the idea of having to do community service with blind people. She didn't want to be reminded of the disability that Jenna had. She faked a smile at her parole officer and said, "Ok, I will do my best with my community service."

Jeffrey said, "You could start tomorrow at the center if you like."

Alison nodded.

She and her father went back home. They told Jessica about her community service.

Jessica said to her daughter, "Alison, I want you to be on your best behavior at the place. You have caused enough problems for this family and this is your chance to redeem all of us."

Alison said, "I'm sorry Mom. I will just do my community service and be done with all of this. I want to put the past behind me."

* * *

The next day, Alison was on a public transportation bus that traveled daily from Rosewood to Philadelphia. She was getting nervous at the idea of working with blind people. The bus arrived at a stop in Philadelphia. Ali then took another bus to the center.

The building was quite big and modern looking. She noticed safety signs warning drivers and sighted people about the presence of visually impaired people being in the area.

She nervously walked into the building and caught sight of an older man walking with a white cane. She found the administrator's office.

The head administrator was a woman named Beverly Ryan. The 40 something woman with light brown hair greeted Alison.

"Alison, your service duties here will vary. We need help with cleaning and maintaining the building and our classrooms, rec rooms, our swimming area, and gym. You will also be working directly with our clients who come here for recreation, meetings, or certain types of training. One of your teen volunteers Sydney Driscoll will be mentoring you." Beverly said.

Alison simply nodded. The idea of working directly with blind people made her nervous.

A few minutes later, she was walking around with her mentor Sydney. The girl was around the same height as Ali and long dark hair. The girl showed Ali to the classrooms, rec rooms, braille library, and various rooms. She took Ali to the gym and Ali observed a group of blind children playing some kind of game involving plastic bats and kickballs.

She then followed Sydney to the swimming pool. The idea of blind people swimming sounded foreign to Alison.

Sydney said, "This is our swimming pool area. We conduct trainings here. Right now, it's not busy here but it will be in a couple of hours."

Sydney said, "Beverly wants you to go over some instruction books about working with blind people. Since it is quiet here, I figured we could do that here."

Ali said, "Sure."

She and the brunette girl took sat on bleachers. She listened as Sydney pointed out tips.

Ali ended up asking, "Why do you volunteer here Sydney?"

Sydney said, "My mom is blind. She was born that way. I have grown up knowing a lot of blind people. I volunteer here partially because it will help me with college applications. But I enjoy being here and I'm thinking about teaching blind kids and adults someday as a career".

Ali said, "I'm sorry about your mom."

Sydney said, "Thank you, but you don't need to be sorry. My mom is a good mom despite her disability. This life is all I have known and it's all she has known too."

Twenty minutes, later Alison heard the sound of tapping. She saw a smile form on Sydney's face.

"Hi Emily". Sydney said.

Alison turned around and saw a tall girl with dark hair walking with a white cane, tapping it from side to side. The girl had tan skin. Her eyes were covered by dark sunglasses. She wore jeans, Nike sneakers, and a green and white raglan shirt and had a black backpack on her one of her shoulders.

The girl said, "Hey, Sydney"

Ali watched as Sydney went over and hugged the girl, Emily.

Sydney said, "There is someone here that I would like you to meet."

Emily said, "Ok who?"

Ali watched as Emily took Sydney's arm. Ali got up from the bleacher she was sitting on.

When they got close to her. Sydney said, "This is Alison DiLaurentis, a new volunteer here for the summer".

Ali was nervous and she watched as Emily held out her hand.

She took Emily's hand and shook it and said, "Hi."

Emily said, "Is this your first time being around blind people?"

Ali said, "It is."

The blind girl smiled and said, "Don't worry. Sydney and the others will show you the ropes".

Ali said, "Thank you"

Sydney then said, "Emily is teaching a swim class here in awhile. We better let her get ready for that".

Ali and Sydney left the swimming pool. She spent the rest of the afternoon doing some cleaning and Sydney introduced her to other people.

She went back home to Rosewood on the bus. She thought about Emily. She found the girl to be attractive even though she didn't see the girl's eyes.

* * *

When she got back to Rosewood, she decided to pick up coffee at a shop known as The Brew. She made her order and when she walking out, she encountered her former friend Hanna Marin.

Hanna said, "It looks like they let you out."

Ali responded, "They had to. I did my time and so did you. But I did longer time. Now that I'm back in town, leave me alone Hanna".

She walked past Hanna and headed home.

* * *

Two days later, she headed back to Philly to the center for the blind. She went into the swimming pool and saw Emily swimming by herself in the pool. Sydney was at one end. Alison noticed that Sydney had some kind of long stick with a tennis ball attached at one end. She watched as Emily was coming near Sydney and she then saw Sydney tap Emily on the head with ball end of the stick. Emily then did the flip turn and started swimming to the other end.

Sydney said, "Hey Ali, I'm here helping Emily with her training. Let's walk to the other end, she is getting out now."

Ali said curiously , "You have to hit her with that stick?".

Sydney said, "It's called a tapper. It's a simple tap on the head to keep a blind swimmer from hitting the wall. Emily has been swimming for a long time, so she is used to it."

They walked to the other end. Sydney helped Emily out of the pool and handed her a towel.

Ali stared at Emily's well toned body. The brunette was wearing a blue swimsuit and blue swim cap. She watched as Emily pulled off the cap and her long hair came out.

Ali said, "Hello Emily, it's me Ali from yesterday".

Emily smiled and said, "Oh hi."

Ali noticed how Emily's eyes had a fixed gaze. Another thing, she noticed was that Emily's eyes looked slanted, an Asian feature.

Sydney said to Ali, "I'm going to help Emily. Why don't you go to the rec room and we will meet you there later on".

* * *

Ali went to the rec room and waited for Emily and Sydney. She noticed some braille books on a table. One of the books was the popular children's book Goodnight Moon. She ran her fingers over the raised bumps which also had printed words above them.

She picked up a couple a printed magazine and read awhile, before she heard a tapping cane. It was Emily. Her hair was dried and tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a stripped t-shirt, jeans, and her Converse shoes. Ali noticed the dark sunglasses she had on.

Emily said, "Sydney got busy with some stuff. She will be here later. Our duties are to put together some braille counting charts for the little kids who come here for classes. The supplies are in the big cabinet on the end."

Ali said, "Ok, I'll get the stuff out."

Emily took a seat at a table. She folded her white can and put in a pocket in her backpack. Ali sorted the supplies.

Emily said, "To make, the charts we tape the numbers in a horizontal lines on the boards."

Ali said, "I see, seems really easy."

Emily teased, "Be glad the numbers are also in print."

The two girls started working on the charts. Ali noticed a radio in the room. She wanted to turn it on for background noise, but she decided not to. She decided to get to know Emily.

Ali nervously said, "Emily how did you….?"

Emily replied, "Go blind?"

"Um yeah. I hope you don't mind me asking." Ali said.

"It's ok. It was a tumor in my brain that effected my optic nerves. I was 7."

Ali said, "I'm sorry that must have been hard."

"It was. But I adjusted easily with going to a school for the blind and coming here."

Ali began to wonder about Jenna. Jenna was older than Emily when she went blind. She wondered about a how a teenager like Jenna adjusted.

Emily then asked, "What do you look like?"

Ali said, "I have blonde hair that is long. My eyes are blue".

Emily said, "Would it be ok, if I felt your face? I know it sounds weird."

Ali was a bit taken back, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to say yes.

She said to Emily, "Sure you can feel it."

Emily said, "Take my hands and put them on your face".

Ali took Emily's hands, she liked the contrast of Emily's tan skin on her pale skin. She placed Emily's hands on her face.

Slowly, Emily felt around Ali's face gently. She ran a finger over Ali's eye brows and the bridge of her nose. She ran one under Ali's chin and sides of her face

Emily didn't say anything for a few minutes.

She then said, "Your facial structure feels beautiful"

Ali said, "Thank you. You are pretty too."

Emily got a bit embarrassed, "I doubt that you mean that."

"I do mean it. I don't want to sound insensitive, but what is your racial background." Ali said.

"I'm a mix of Filipino, Korean, Scottish, and Irish. My dad is half Korean and half Irish. My mom is half Filipino and half Scottish." Emily said.

"I knew you were Asian, I just didn't know exactly. How old are you?"

I'm 17, you?"

Ali replied, "I'm 16"

"What high school do you go to?"

Ali said, "Rosewood High in Rosewood. It's about 30 minutes from here. Do you still go to a blind school?"

Emily said, "I do, the one here in Philly."

Ali had heard from her lawyer that Jenna was attending blind school in Philadelphia. She knew it had to be the same one as Emily.

The two girls then chatted about other things like music, movies, and TV shows.

Later on, Emily's phone rang and she answered it.

After Emily hung up, she said to Ali, "That was my mom. She is coming to pick me up for an appointment. I'm going to head out to the lobby. It was good working with you today Ali."

Ali said, "I enjoyed working with you too."

Emily gathered up her things and unfolded her cane.

Ali asked, "Emily, would it be ok if I put my number in your phone?"

The brunette smiled and said, "Sure."

She handed the phone to Ali and Ali typed into her information.

Ali asked, "Is your phone voice commanded?"

"Yeah. The voice over software also tells me things"

Emily said, "I got to go. Call me Ali and when will you be here again"

Ali said, "I should be here on Friday".

"Oh cool. I'm teaching swim class and you could help me."

Ali said, "It would be my pleasure".

Emily said bye to Ali and headed out of the classroom.

The blonde had a crush on the blind girl, but she didn't want to admit to anyone.


	2. Chapter 2

Redemption Chapter 2

Friday rolled around and Ali was in her father's car on their way to Philadelphia. Kenneth has some business to take care of there and he was going to drop off Ali at the Center for The Blind. She couldn't wait to see Emily again.

Kenneth pulled up the car near the building.

He turned to Ali and said, "I'll be back at 5 pm. If you need me to pick you up earlier let me know."

"I will." Ali said.

Ali got out of the car and headed inside. She went into the main office to sign in on the volunteer sheet. She saw Sydney in there.

"Hi Ali, how are you doing today?" Sydney asked, while sorting through some paperwork.

"I'm good." The blonde replied.

"Emily said you are going to help her with swim class."

"I am. I hope that is ok."

"Sure it is. It will give me some time to do some stuff here in the office. Just let me know if you two need help."

Ali smiled and said, "We will let you know."

The blonde left the office and headed down to the swimming pool. She had a duffel bag over her shoulder that contained a swimsuit, change of clothes, lotion, hair supplies and other things.

When she entered the swimming pool, she saw Emily seating on the bleachers going over a braille book with her fingers.

Emily called out, "Ali is that you?"

Ali said, "It's me. I signed in with the office and told Sydney that I would be helping you."

Emily said, "The class starts in an hour. Some supplies for the students have been set up at the table. Let's go get changed and then we can get into the pool."

The brunette then got up and started walking with her cane, Ali followed as they went into the locker room. She watched as Emily guided herself to a bench and put her backpack there. Ali went to the same bench. Emily starting removing her clothing. Ali turned away. She was attracted to Emily, but felt uncomfortable watching Emily undress. The blonde removed her clothing and changed into her brand new swimsuit, it light blue with pink side stripes. Ali had not been in a pool in a few years. She had some basic knowledge of swimming.

After she finished changing, she saw that Emily changed into green swimsuit. The two headed out to the pool. Emily guided herself to the pool stairs and using her cane she got into the pool. Ali followed behind.

When they were both in the water, Emily said, "I just need you to be on standby, in a case I need help with something. The kids in this class will be accompanied in the water by parents or other adults. You might have to assist if they ask you."

"Oh I see. I bet you are good teacher." Ali said in a sweet tone.

"I hope I am. Do you have much experience with swimming?" Emily asked.

"I know the basics. I'm not an intense swimmer. You could probably kick my butt in a race." Ali teased.

Emily said, "The class I'm teaching is about swimming basics. Eventually some students will move onto more advance classes."

Ali said, "Do a lot of blind people enjoy swimming?"

"Some do, but others don't. I have a few blind friends who aren't into swimming because it scares them."

"I think it would be a bit scary to be in water and not able to see your surroundings."

Emily said, "I was scared at first after I went blind and started swimming again. But some old teachers helped me, along with some of the volunteers. On the topic of volunteering, why do you volunteer here Ali?"

Ali was immediately nervous at Emily's question. So far, only Beverly knew the real reason that Ali was doing community service at the center. Ali then decided to lie.

The blonde said, "I'm volunteering here for college applications and resumes. I know college is kind of far off, I just want to get ahead on community service and other activities."

Emily said, "A lot of the teen volunteers usually volunteer here for those reasons. I do remember a couple of years ago, a woman did some community service hours here because a drunk driving conviction. So sometimes we do get people here volunteering because of court ordered community service. Other times, we get retired people or stay at home moms helping here too"

Ali felt bad for lying to Emily aout the reason for volunteer work at the center. She knew that, telling Emily, the real reason wouldn't be good, at all, because of the incident that blinded Jenna.

Twenty minutes later, children with white canes or guided by adults started coming into the swimming pool. They all greeted Emily and the brunette introduced them to Ali. After getting changed in the locker rooms, the children and the adults go into the pool.

Emily started teaching the class. Ali stayed a bit off to the side and observed the class. She saw how attentive and skilled Emily was in teaching the basics of swimming. Sometimes Emily would physically help some of the students with swimming skills. Two hours later, the class was finished. Emily and Ali waited as the children and adults got out of the pool.

Emily said, "We should let the others shower and then we will get into the locker room."

Ali said, "Sounds good to me. What else do you plan to do here today, maybe I could help.

"There are some braille books that need to be packaged for the literacy program."

After seeing the others clear out of the locker room, Ali guided Emily out of the pool. In the locker room, she and Emily removed their clothes. Ali wondered if Emily was imagining how Ali looked naked. But she felt bad for wondering about that. When they headed into the shower stalls. Ali started a bit at Emily's naked body. She saw how tell toned Emily's abdomen area was. She saw more closely how muscular Emily's limbs were. She stared a bit at Emily's breasts. After the two finished showering, they went into the locker room and dried off. They changed into the extra sets of clothing they brought. Ali watched as the blind brunette felt around her clothes before putting them on.

Ali then realized that she had forgotten a blow dryer. She saw one in Emily's bad.

She asked the brunette, "Could I borrow your hair dryer?"

"Sure. I could blow dry and brush you hair for you. I do it for my friends all the time. It's easy because I use my hands and can feel around well." Emily said.

Ali said, "Ok. My friends and I used to do each other's hair like at sleepovers."

"Me too."

Ali and Emily went over to the counter area. Emily felt around to find the outlets and she plugged in the blow dryer and had Ali stand in front of her. Ali felt Emily's hand on her hair, gently Emily dried her hair and then brushed it. She enjoyed having Emily do her hair.

Emily finished up brushing Ali's hair and asked, "How did I do?"

Ali said, "You did good."

Emily then dried and styled her own hair.

* * *

The two packed up their bags and headed to the braille library room. Emily led Ali to the table in the room. There were stacks of books, Ali watched as Emily felt around the braille on the book covers.

Emily said, "Ok we take a book from each stack and then put them in canvas bags that are stored in the cabinet. These books are "The Little Engine That Could", "The Cat in the Hat" and "The Giving Tree".

Ali went over and pulled out a big box from the cabinet that contained the canvas bags which had the stamping, "_Philadelphia Center for the Blind Reading Program_" on them.

Ali and Emily started putting together the gift bags.

Ali asked, "What are these bags for?"

"They are for the kids who are new to braille reading program here. We give them these books to keep." Emily said.

The blonde asked, "Was it hard to learn to braille?"

"It was. I had to take classes both at the blind school and here to catch up to some of the other kids who had been reading braille longer." Emily said as she put books into a canvas bag.

"Do you listen to audiobooks?" Ali asked.

"Yeah, I do. I listen to them at home sometimes when I get bored with TV or am doing something else. Sometimes I have others read to me. That can be fun to hear stories read from the voices of people I know."

"Maybe I could read to you sometime soon? I was wondering Emily if maybe later on this summer you would like to visit me in Rosewood." Ali asked.

"Sure. Thanks for the offer. I like that we are becoming good friends, even though we haven't known each other long." Emily said.

Ali felt a bit embarrassed that she mentioned Emily visiting her in Rosewood. She berated herself mentally for inviting Emily too soon.

The two girls finished up their duties in the braille reading room.

Emily said, "We could take a break and get some coffee in the lobby and talk. The literacy program doesn't start until 1."

Ali said, "It would be good to relax for awhile."

The two headed into the lobby and Ali saw the coffeemaker with a stack of paper cups, sugar and sweetener packets, and packets of dry coffee creamer.

She asked the brunette, "How do you take your coffee?"

"One packet of sweetener and two packets of creamer."

Ali got the cup of coffee ready for Emily. Emily sat at a table. Ali brought the coffee over and said, "It's hot, Emily be careful".

Emily smiled and nodded. She left around the cup of the coffee and said, "I'll wait a few minutes to let cool down a bit."

Ali went back and got coffee for herself and came back and sat with Ali.

Emily asked, "What are your plans for the weekend?"

"I'm not sure. I guess stay home and be lazy. There are some TV shows and movies I want to see this weekend. I know that doesn't sound very productive. But what about you?" Ali asked.

"I'm going to New Jersey to visit my grandparents." Emily said.

"That sounds nice." Ali said taking a sip of her coffee.

Ali and Emily went back later on to work with literacy program. At the end of day, Emily and Ali said bye for the weekend.

* * *

The next day, Ali awoke in her home. She had gotten used to waking in her house again. Her parents were out for the day, they had to do some maintenance work on some of their rental properties.

Ali went downstairs and made herself breakfast and read from Great Expectations. Later on, she showered and dressed. She was watching a movie in her living room. When the doorbell rang.

She went over and opened it and was surprised to see her former friend, Aria Montgomery there.

Ali was a bit upset.

Aria, a short brunette, said, "Hi Ali. I heard you were released."

"Let me guess, Hanna told you. What do you want Aria?" Ali said with a bit of anger.

Aria responded, "Hanna didn't tell me. I'm not friends anymore with Spencer or Hanna. My mom saw you in town the other day. I'm sorry about what happend between all of us. I want to move on with my life and I'm sure you want to do the same. But that doesn't mean that we can't try to be friends again. I wanted to know how you are doing and see I could help out with the readjustment period?"

Ali was touched by Aria's thoughtfulness and said, "I've been ok. I'll admit I'm glad to no longer be in juvie. How are you doing?"

The short brunette responded, "I've been doing ok. I just got my driver's license and I'm doing some summer photography classes. What have you been up to?"

"I have to do community service as apart of my parole. I go up to this community center organization for the blind. I've been helping there. My parole officer suggested it. After this summer, I probably won't go back. Do you have to do community service?" Ali asked.

"Yeah. I do volunteer work at the animal shelter in town and I also had to do highway litter pickup. Is it weird helping out a place for blind people?"

Ali said nervously, "It was at first. I am getting some kind of insight to what Jenna's life is like. I do feel guilty about it. People at the place are nice and nobody knows the real reason I'm volunteering there. They think I'm doing it for college applications."

"I really feel bad for Jenna. I keep wondering, if there, is something we could do for. I know we won't ever be able to make up for it. But, I don't know, I just wish we could erase that whole thing." Aria said.

"I know what you mean. We can't undo the past."

Aria said, "About we go for a drive. I have my mom's jeep."

Ali said, "I would like that."

Ali got her iPhone from the kitchen and followed Aria out to the jeep. The two drove around town. At one point, Ali's phone buzzed and she saw that she had a text from Emily which read, "I'm having fun today at the beach here. I hope you are having fun Ali."

Ali smiled as she read the text.

She and Aria then headed to The Brew.

The two got out of the jeep happily, but that changed when they saw a bus pull up across the street and they saw Jenna Marshall come out accompanied by her step brother Toby Cavanaugh. Jenna had on dark sunglasses and the white cane was in her hand.

Both Aria and Ali felt bad and they headed into The Brew quickly, in hopes that Toby didn't see them.


	3. Chapter 3

Redemption Chapter 3

Monday rolled around and Ali found herself on the commuter bus to Philadelphia. She kept thinking of Jenna and how she and Aria saw her. She felt guilty and had been feeling more remorseful. She considered writing an apology letter to Jenna. Then she felt stupid realizing someone would have to read the letter to Jenna. Finally, the bus made to the stop closest to the Center for the Blind. Ali got and walked to the center.

She saw Sydney in the lobby.

Sydney said, "Hey Alison, how was your weekend?

The blonde replied, "It was ok. I was a bit lazy, I mostly watched TV and went out with a friend for awhile."

"Sounds you like you had a relaxing weekend."

Ali almost wanted to cringe at that. After seeing Jenna and Toby, she was tense the rest of the weekend.

The blonde then asked, "So, what our duties for today?"

"We are going have to clean the bathrooms and the gym and then in afternoon we can help Beverly lead a group to the park."

Ali was a bit disappointed to have to do cleaning first. She and Sydney tackled the cleaning duties right away and then took a break in the lobby.

On break, the two drank coffee and Ali asked, "Is Emily coming by here today?"

Sydney said, "No, she got some good news over the weekend."

"What was the good news?"

"She received word from the Guide Dog Institute, she is getting a new guide dog. She lost a guide dog six months ago. The dog's name was Casey. He was diagnosed with a form of cancer. Emily had him for five years. It was hard on her. She wasn't sure if she would ever get another dog again. Emily and her parents are going to Connecticut to pick up the dog. Emily will be doing her orientation training with the new dog here at the center." Sydney said.

After hearing about the business with the guide dog. An idea popped into Ali's head.

Several minutes later, she looked at Sydney and said, "Would it possible if I could volunteer somehow to help Emily with that training. I know I'm not expert on the subject. But, maybe I could help her out somehow."

The brunette smiled and said, "You can talk Beverly about it and I'm sure she will give you the green light. I could give you some pointers. My mom has had guide dogs in the past. She doesn't have one now."

Ali asked, "Why doesn't she have one?"

"Her last dog died two years ago and then my grandmother moved in with us and she is allergic to dogs. So right now, my mom is going without a guide dog"

"Oh I'm sorry. It must be tough for her and Emily to lose precious animals that help them out."

"It is hard like I said earlier. It will take Emily awhile to readjust to a new dog. We will be there to help her along."

* * *

The next day, Ali arrived at the Center for the Blind. She was told to go into one of the classrooms. There she saw Emily with the new dog, a German Shepard and she also saw a couple with Emily. She figured they were Emily's parents.

Ali ssaid, "Hi Emily, it's me Alison."

Emily smiled and said, "Hey there. Sydney told me about you are going to help with my orientation training. These are my parents, Pam and Wayne.

Pam, a shorter woman smiled at Ali and said, "Hello there, it's good to see younger volunteers here."

Wayne held out his hand and said, "It's good to meet you, Alison."

She shook his hand said, "It's good to meet you to."

Ali glanced down at the dog and said, "What's the dog's name?"

Emily said, "Connor".

Ali patted the dog on his head and ran her hand on his back. She noticed the special harness on the dog. It was a black strap connected to an aluminum handle.

A few minutes later, a few others and their new guide dogs came into the classroom.

Wayne said, "Ali, we have to head back to work. Are you sure you will be ok here with Emily and Connor?"

"We will be fine. Let me get your numbers for my phone."

Ali then added the numbers that Wayne and Pam recited into her phone's contact list.

The first session of orientation training began.

The instructor went over basic terms and the course outline. Ali out of curiosity took some notes.

The session ended, the girls and the dog headed to the lobby.

Emily asked, "I heard the sound of you writing."

Ali said, "I was taking notes, in case we need them".

Emily said, "That's good. It's a sign that you are taking this seriously. I appreciate it Alison."

"I'm happy to help. I feel bad for taking notes. They are probably just for myself. I feel bad because you can't read them."

"Don't feel bad. You can read them to me or maybe we can have them put into a braille with one of the machines here and I also have one at my house."

Alison then wondered if could use a machine to make an apology letter to Jenna.

"You should come over to my house soon. We could maybe have a sleepover. I know that sounds lame." Emily said with a slight giggle.

"I would like that, if it is ok with your parents." Ali said.

"How about you come over on Thursday night ? Then we can come here the next day and teach my swimming class."

Ali said, "Sounds good, I'll ask my parents."

* * *

Thursday morning came. Ali was in her mother's car. Jessica had business to do in Philadelphia and was going to drop off Ali. She and Kenneth agreed to let Ali spend the night at Emily's house. Ali told them all about Emily and both felt the growing friendship was a good thing.

Ali walked into the Center with an overnight bag on her shoulder. She left the overnight bag in one of the lockers near the lobby. She went to the library area to meet with Sydney and Emily.

They spent the day going over the inventory and cleaning the library.

At the end, Emily and Ali walked to the bus stop. Emily didn't have Connor with her, just her white cane. Ali allowed Emily to do things herself unless she asked for help.

The bus showed up and they headed to a stop near Emily's home.

They got out and Emily said, "My house is 1456 Greenly Street. It's just down the street."

Ali smiled and said, "You must know your neighborhood well. How long have you lived here?"

"Eight years".

Ali looked around the neighborhood. The houses appeared to be modest but nice.

They came up to Emily's house. It was an off white one story house with light blue doors."

"My mom is home." Emily said she made her way to the door.

They went inside and Emily called out for her mother.

Pam came out right away. She was wearing an old t-shirt and jeans.

"Hi girls. I was just finishing up some cleaning. I'm going to change and then get started on dinner." Pam said.

Ali said, "I'll help you ."

"That will be nice. But about you and Emily hang out for awhile. I've already set up the raised airbed in Emily's room. I'll call out when I need help with dinner."

"Thank you, Mrs Fields."

The girls went into Emily's room. It walls were a pale pink color. Ali noticed there was nothing on the walls. She noticed a desk that had a laptop computer and then some other machines. There was a shelf of braille books and then another shelf containing boxed sets of audio books on CD.

Ali saw the raised airbed which placed next to Emily's bed. There were blankets and bedding on the airbed. She put her overnight bag on it.

Ali said, "I see that braille machine you told me about. Which one is it?"

"It's the second one on my desk. I'll show you how it works."

Emily tore out a page from a magazine.

"You put the printed page under scanner part. You hit the scan button."

Ali watched as Emily pressed a red button that had a braille on it and also the word "scan" The sound of the scanner was heard in the room. After the scanning sound stopped. She watched as Emily hit a button titled "transcribe". More noise was heard in the room and Ali heard the sound of popping too. Several minutes later, a paper with raised dots came out on the front tray.

Emily pulled it and said, "It's really easy. You can play with it, if you want."

Ali knew it was now easy to write a letter to Jenna and then have a braille version made up.

Ali said, "I brought my laptop with me. I see that you have a regular computer printer. I have some things I can print and then put into the braille machine."

Emily said, "Sure, have fun making braille out of anything you want. I'm going to go check on Connor."

Ali waited until Emily left the room to put all out her laptop from her bag. She turned it on and opened up her word program and found the saved letter to Jenna. She clicked print and seconds later, the letter was printing on Emily's wireless printer. She pulled it and looked it over. She then put into the braille machine. When it was finished, she pulled out the braille letter and then look it at side by side with the print letter. She put both copies back in her bag.

She went out to the living room where Emily and Connor were playing.

Ali said, "He has really taken to you."

Emily said, "He has. He has been doing well in the training sessions."

* * *

Two hours later, Ali and Emily were eating dinner with Emily's parents. Pam had made lasagna, garlic bread, and salad. Ali started a bit as she watched Emily eat. For some odd reason, she kept expecting Emily to spill food on herself, but it didn't happen. After dinner, she helped Wayne wash the dishes. Emily cleaned the table with a cleaning cloth. The girls joined Wayne and Pam in the living room.

Wayne said, "Alison would you like play cards? We play with cards that have braille on them."

Ali said, "Sure, I would love to play."

The four sat around the kitchen table.

Pam went into the room and came back with a deck of cards that had blue backs.

Pam shuffled the cards for a game of rummy and dealt the cards out.

Ali noticed that the cards were common looking, but in the corners, there was braille on them. She watched as Emily felt the corners of the cards.

The game started and in the end, Wayne was the winner.

Later on, Emily and Ali went into Emily's room. Both changed into their sleep clothes. Emily wore a tank top with shorts and Ali wore similar sleep clothes.

Emily said, "I hope you had fun here."

"I did. I only learned how to play rummy six months ago. It was fun playing with you and your parents" Ali said.

The blonde then thought back to the juvenile detention center where she had been. It was there, that another inmate, a girl named Tanisha taught her various card games.

Emily said, "I'm starting a new audiobook, would you be ok if we listened to it, before we went to sleep."

"I don't mind."

Emily went to her stereo and loaded up a CD into it and pressed play. The narrator announced the title as "The Fault In Our Stars"

Ali had heard about the book and the movie awhile back.

She and Emily listened to a few chapters, before both were sleepy.

Ali got on the airbed and covered herself with blankets. Emily was on her bed and she said, "Good night Ali."

Ali said , "Good night, Emily".

The next morning, Ali awoke before Emily. She felt like kissing the brunette. But she knew she couldn't. Ali for awhile considered herself bisexual. She didn't know about Emily's sexual orientation.


	4. Chapter 4

Redemption Chapter 4

A few weeks had passed since Alison slept over at Emily's house. Their friendship had grown since then. Ali learned more about her. But Ali kept a lot of things about herself from Emily. She didn't want Emily to find out the real reason behind why she was volunteering at the Center. Ali did tell Emily about her friendship with Aria. In the past few weeks, Ali had been spending time with Aria too. They were slowly reconciling over the past.

One day at the center, Ali invited Emily to come to Rosewood for a sleepover. She said yes. It was a Friday afternoon, Emily and Ali were on the bus to Rosewood. Aria would be picking them up. Ali had told Aria about Emily. Aria was interested in meeting and hanging out with Emily.

The bus pulled up to a stop near The Brew. Ali helped Emily out of the bus. She saw Aria sitting on a bench. Aria started a bit at Emily, as the blind girl unfolded her white cane.

Aria walked to them and said, "Hi guys"

She saw Emily smile and she took Emily's hand and said, "I'm Aria, it's good to meet you."

Emily said, "Thank you, it's good to meet a friend of Ali".

Ali said to Emily, "We are going to get some coffee now, take my arm"

The three girls headed into The Brew. They saw that the place was crowded, but there was an empty table near the back and far off from the register area. Ali guided Emily to it and said the she and Aria were going to order their beverages.

Aria said, "Will you be ok here alone Emily?"

Emily said, "I'll be fine here"

Aria and Ali got in the long line of customers.

Emily reached into her purse and pulled out a braille book. She opened it and started gliding her fingers across the pages. She occasionally paused at times to hear the sounds of the cafe. People chatting, the sounds of spoons stirring in cups, sometimes the sounds of people chewing cookies or other pastries. She also took in the smells of coffees, different flavorings like vanilla or hazelnut.

She then heard someone come near the table.

A female voice said, "Hello there, are you new to Rosewood?"

Emily said, "I'm here visiting and staying the night with a friend who lives here. What is your name?"

"Spencer." The female voice said.

Emily said, "It's good to meet you Spencer, I'm Emily Fields. I'm here visiting and staying the night with my friend Alison DiLaurentis."

Spencer responded, "Yes, I know Alison."

Emily responded, "She is a nice girl. She volunteers at a Center for The Blind in Philadelphia that is how I know her."

"That is interesting Emily. I have to go, but it was nice meeting you. I hope you enjoy your visit in Rosewood."

Emily responded with a thank you and she then heard the girl's footsteps as she walked away from the table.

Several minutes later, Aria and Ali came to the table.

Aria said, "I got you a french vanilla cappuccino and we also got some peanut butter cookies too."

Emily said, "Thank you, just set the cup down in front of me. I will feel for it"

Aria did as she was told. She and Ali took their seats at the table and started sipping on their own beverages. Emily did as well.

A few minutes later, Emily said, "While you two were in line, a girl came here to the table. She said her name was Spencer and that she knew Ali."

Looks of panic formed on the faces of Aria and Ali. They looked at each other.

Ali said, "Oh yeah, Spencer she was in some of my classes at school.

The blonde felt bad for not saying the whole truth about her past relationship and connection to Spencer. She couldn't tell Emily that she and Aria had been friends with Spencer.

Aria jumped in and changed the subject by asking Emily if she liked her beverage and cookies.

Thirty minutes later, the three girls were at Ali's house. When Emily went into the bathroom.

Ali and Aria in low voices discussed Spencer.

Aria said, "Spencer, must have seen us walk in with Emily."

The blonde responded, "I'm just glad she didn't spill to Emily, about what happened to Jenna. I don't want Emily to ever know that."

* * *

Later on, the girls watched TV and ate dinner with the DiLaurentis parents.

Aria was helping Jessica wash dishes as Emily and Ali went into the living room.

Jessica said to the short brunette, "Thank you Aria for being nice to Ali and reconnecting with her. That whole thing took a toll on all of us. I'm just glad you are all out of juvie. I know that you are no longer friends with Spencer and Hanna. Anyway, I'm just glad Ali is doing her volunteer work in Philly. She seems to really like Emily."

Aria said, "Emily is a nice girl and it's good that Ali has friends.

Awhile later, the three teen girls went up to Ali's room.

Emily asked, "Can you describe your room to me, Ali?"

"Well, it's pink. The walls are a darker pink, but my bedding set is a lighter color. I have some knick knacks here and there. Like some snow globes." Ali said she guided Emily to the bed.

Emily said, "I remember the snow globes I had as a little kid before the tumor. I got a few of them for Christmas. One of them was of a Christmas tree and another had Frosty the Snowman."

Ali said, "I have a few Christmas ones, Easter ones, some of different animals, ballerinas, my favorite one is my Eiffel tower snow globe."

Emily smiled and said, "Aw Paris, I've heard good things about it. I have people describe it to me and I also remember seeing pictures of the Eiffel Tower before I lost my vision."

Ali was saddened again that a beautiful person like Emily couldn't see the snow globe, pictures of beautiful cities and other beautiful things. She noticed that Emily was still smiling. She often wondered how Emily could remain positive despite having a disability.

She then said to Aria and Emily, "About we play cards, we brought Emily's braille deck."

Aria responded, "Sure that sounds fun."

The girls played cards for an hour before Aria decided to head home. Emily thanked the short brunette for the ride from The Brew to Ali's house.

Ali walked Aria to her car.

"Thanks again, for picking us up Aria and also thank you for being so kind to Emily."

Aria said, "It's no problem. I really like Emily."

"Me too. I'm now worried about Spencer causing trouble for me."

"Like you said before, she didn't tell Emily about Jenna. She might not be out to start trouble for you. If you see her town just avoid her." Aria said.

"I guess I will avoid her."

A few moments later, Aria drove off.

Ali went back up to her room. She found Emily under the covers. Earlier in the day, Ali asked if it would be ok Emily slept with her in the bed since her family didn't have a raised air bed or a cot for Emily to sleep on. The brunette said it was fine.

Ali changed into sleep clothes and got under the covers. Emily was reading a braille book.

The blonde smiled at the sight.

She faced Emily and asked, "Em, how do you stay so positive? I mean, you can't see many beautiful things or do certain things. You seem so adjusted."

Emily said, "I do my best to be positive, but I get down at times. When I first went blind, things were difficult. My parents had trouble readjust their lives for me and I was put into the blind school and had re learn to live my life. I was a little kid, but it was still hard. I try to make the best of things, again it's not always easy. There are things I worry about in the future, like finding someone to spend my life with. I don't think I'm going to worry about that while I'm still in high school"

Ali thought of Jenna again. She thought of the difficulties Jenna faced.

Emily said, "I'm starting to get sleepy. I'm going to lay flat down. Good night, Ali."

Ali smiled and said, "Good night, Emily."

The blonde stayed up for two hours after Emily fell asleep. She kept thinking of Jenna as well Emily. She thought of both girls not having sight. At one point, Ali got out of bed and went over to her desk. In one of the drawers, there was the braille letter she had for Jenna. She thought about mailing it out, but she still had some uneasiness.

She went back to bed. She watched as Emily slept. She ran her hand over Emily's dark and felt the softness. She eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, she woke up before Emily. She got into the shower and came out and dressed and got ready.

Emily woke up later on. She asked for Ali's help in the shower. Ali watched as Emily undressed in the bathroom. She guided Emily into the shower. She looked over the brunette's naked body like she did in the past. She help Emily out of the shower and watched as she dried off her body and dressed.

The girls later went down to eat breakfast with Jessica, who had prepared waffles, bacon and scrambled eggs.

Jessica said, "I know Ali has been helping you with guide dog training. I hope she is doing a good job."

Emily said, "She is. Connor likes her and she has helped me out well. You have a good daughter, Mrs. DiLaurentis."

Jessica smiled and said, "Thank you."

The older woman than smiled at her daughter.

Later on, Jessica drove the girls to Philadelphia.

She dropped them off at the Center for the Blind.

Emily got out on her own.

Jessica asked Ali to stay in the car for a few minutes.

She said to her daughter, "I'm really proud of Ali. The things you are doing here are good things. I hope at some point in the future, that incident with Jenna Marshall won't hold you back."

Ali said, "I'm glad that I'm helping out here and that I've befriended Emily. I still feel really bad for Jenna. A few weeks ago, when I spent the night at Emily's, I used her braille machine to transcribe an apology letter to her. I haven't sent it."

Jessica said, "The DA and our attorney both said, that it is best that we don't contact Jenna or her family. Maybe it's best that you didn't send it."

"I just want to apologize to her. I owe to her."

Jessica said, "Wait things out and we will talk your parole officer about the letter to Jenna."

"Ok Mom.I know the things I've done in the past have hurt you and Dad."

"They did hurt. But we all need to move past all of our mistakes. Ali try to forgive yourself" Jessica said as she put her hand on her daughter's cheeck.

Ali smiled and said, "I better head inside. I'll see you tonight."

* * *

A few days had past and back in Rosewood, Ali was walking around town. She then came face to face with her former friend, Spencer Hastings outside a dress shop.

Spencer said, "I have known for awhile that you were out. I saw that blind girl with you and Aria at The Brew. Emily is her name right? Let me guess, Ali you are using that girl for something."

Ali rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not using her for anything. She is my friend and I care about her. I have to volunteer at the place in Philly as a part of my release agreement. Don't start anything with me Spencer.

Spencer said, "I don't buy it Ali. Someone like you would never be besties with a blind girl. Does your friend know about Jenna?"

"No. She doesn't need to know"

Spencer said, "I feel sorry for that girl for not knowing that her new friend blinded someone."

Ali didn't respond to that and she walked away quickly from Spencer.


End file.
